Category: 2016 Lit Blitz

On black nights fat with dreams,
I wake in lucid spaces,
listen to the house crack and settle
while midnight traffic moans outside
like vagrant wraiths rushing
from past to future.

I used to walk with you
wrapped in my arms,
wailing bundle of promises.
Now I creak past your door
as you sleep wrapped
in solitary visions. Continue reading “Ghost” by Merrijane Rice

Leaving Egypt

couldn’t have been easy. Walking away from
tangible gods, elaborate bodies. No more
wooing the throne or imposing your thirst
on the Nile’s fertility. Just wind and wilderness
between desire and your next meal. Just
the breath of your mother’s God calling
from the reeds. Now from the shepherd’s well.
Now from the backside of Sinai’s emptiness. Continue reading “Leaving Egypt” by Tyler Chadwick

My first thought upon waking each morning has been the same: Trek did nothing to prepare me for this.

I groggily open my eyes to the clear morning sky, my sister stirring next to me and my little brother burrowing into his sleeping bag. The sounds of the awakening wagon train fill my ears. The familiar anxiety settles on me, an unwelcome guest.

My dad is already up, packing the handcart. “It’s going to be a scorcher today,” he says. “We’ve got to get a move on while it’s still fairly cool.”

We dress quickly and eat a few bites, and then start moving east with the rest of the wagon train. I hate the first hours of each day, before the solar power-assist wagon wheels charge enough to provide some of the handcart’s propulsion. It has been two weeks since we set out from Salt Lake City, marching past burnt-out towns and razed fields. No pioneer stories or parades could have prepared any of us for this.

But how could they? That was all long ago, before the wars broke out, before the pandemic swept across North America, before the earthquakes ricocheted across the Wasatch Front. Before the First Presidency letter circulated from house to house, with instructions on creating lightweight handcarts and heading as wards toward Missouri.

My sister starts singing, her braids bouncing on her shoulders. “Pioneer children sang as they walked…and walked…and walked…”

My brother joins in for the final repetition: “AND walked…”

I do not sing, but set my jaw as we struggle up an incline, rocks sliding under my feet. Abigail is thirteen, still a sweet and excited Beehive. Parley is only nine. How can they be so trusting? I think. How can we even know there will be anything there? My ankle twists painfully on a rock and I stifle an agitated sigh. My dad gives me a tired smile. He has looked tired for a very long time. Continue reading “Fresh Courage Take” by Bradeigh Godfrey

I am both virgins—foolish and wise
No sooner to take one glorious step
Than slip and spill.
How can I be
Both faithless and believing in alternating breaths
Knowing what I know?

Perfection is not required at this stage
But constancy
Might let me see the wedding feast.

To share your reactions and discuss this and other 2016 finalists, click here.

We have twelve stellar pieces this year–short stories, essays, and poems. Some will inspire you. Some will challenge you and your notions of Mormon literature. Some will give you insights even as they make you laugh.

In the comments to this post, we want to hear your thoughts and your reactions on the pieces. What struck you? What was interesting or original about a piece? What is the dialogue between the pieces? We invite everyone to chime in, including the authors.

And here are the pieces:

The Fifth Annual Mormon Lit Blitz will run from May 23rd to June 4th. We posted the longlist last week, and now we’ve narrowed the entries to the final twelve pieces which we will publish.

The finalists, listed by publication date:

We had an excellent batch of submissions this year, and the entire judging team read the entries over the past four days. Due to the quality of entries, we’re not quite down to the promised twelve finalists, but after much discussion, we have narrowed it down to a longlist of twenty. By Monday we will make our decision and announce the finalists. The twelve finalists will then be published on this blog from May 23rd to June 4th.

Meanwhile, we’d like to offer congratulations to the twenty pieces (and their authors) on the longlist:

“Barefoot” by Robbie Taggart
“Branch 9 ¾” by Kaki Olsen
“Foolish and Wise” by Lisa Barker
“Fresh Courage Take” by Bradeigh Godfrey
“From the East” by Merrijane Rice
“Geirfinnur Atlason” by Steven L. Peck
“Ghost” by Merrijane Rice
“Golden Contact” by Lee Allred
“Holey Chairs” by Jenny Rabe
“Last Defiance of a Reluctant Church Goer” by James D. Beers
“Last Tuesday” by William Morris
“Leaving Egypt” by Tyler Chadwick
“Pacific: Mateu Matem” by Tyler Chadwick
“Requiem for Those People Who Lived Briefly in Your Ward” by Rose Green
“Rumors of Wars” by Zachary Lunn
“The Back Row” by Kelli Swofford Nielsen
“The Bride and the Rice Stone Way” by Mark Penny
“The Gift of Tongues“ by Annaliese Lemmon
“The Hoofer” by Scott Hales
“The Progress of a Miracle” by Emily Harris Adams